Quartet Drops Settlements Chapter From Peace Talks Report

"A new Quartet report on the issues plaguing the Israeli-Palestinian peace process will not address controversial legalities concerning the settlement enterprise, a senior Israeli source said on Tuesday...

The report in question is expected to be released by the end of the week. According to the senior official, had the chapter on settlements been included in the report, whose findings are likely to be adopted by the U.N. Security Council, the Palestinians would have been able to use it to pursue legal action against Israel in the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

'The fact that this chapter was dropped from the report is a significant achievement for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,' he said.

Still, even without the settlements chapter, the Quartet's report is said to be very critical of Israel's settlement policy, as well as the military policies exercised in Area A, which under the 1993 Oslo Accord is under full Palestinian jurisdiction...

The U.N. Security Council is scheduled to debate the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process on Thursday."